To the Editors:

As members of Oberlin Students for a Free Palestine, we think that the recent campus posters sponsored by the Oberlin Zionists deserve a public response. We see these posters, which utilize Martin Luther King quotations regarding Zionism, as manipulative and exploitative. These posters quote Dr. King’s “Letter to an Anti-Zionist Friend” without providing any context for his writing. As Dr. King’s life work did not revolve around Israel/Palestine, we want to know more. Who is he writing to/for? When? Why? His life work is currently static, despite his contributions that we feel daily; we have no idea how Dr. King would respond to the current situation in the Middle East. It is manipulative to talk about him posthumously in this way, making assumptions about how he would feel regarding Zionism today.
Dr. King is an historical figure who made monumental contributions to social justice work in this country. Invoking Dr. King, whose memory has become a symbol of nonviolent resistance to racist power structures, is a move that quashes any response. Who can argue with a man whose words have made such important change in the world? The signs exploit the relationship between the reader and quotes; there is a preconceived notion of how the reader will respond no matter what the signs say. Further, these signs call on this one element of Dr. King’s politics and construct him as a sentimentalized authority. They do not mention his critical work against war, injustice and human rights abuses, which have parallels in the situation in Palestine today.
We are not interested in arguing about whether Dr. King would support Zionism’s current incarnation, or an end to the illegal occupation or groups like Oberlin Students for a Free Palestine. It’s not even because of our particular opinions about what needs to happen to make justice in Palestine that we are outraged about this use of Dr. King’s words. Rather, it is the manipulative nature of these quotations which are an exploitation of his memory.
As we close this letter, we want to mention that there has been an increase in violence in Palestine and Israel over the past week, even as the United States comes closer to war on Iraq. This violence has been majorly underreported in the mainstream media. In light of last week’s horrific events, we call on the entire Oberlin College community to be particularly critical of how we all frame our responses to this situation. We ask that everyone work proactively to educate ourselves and to keep updated on what is happening in Palestine.

—Haley Pollack
–Nava Etshalom
Oberlin Students for a Free Palestine